Today, consumers spend billions of dollars every year on consumer electronics such as laptop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, mobile telephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and other mobile devices such as personal media players. Often, these devices enable users to create, save, and share personal data such as digital photographs, music, and videos. Other private data such as financial records, credit card numbers, Personal Identification Numbers (PINs), and online passwords are also often stored on these devices with little or no security mechanisms to prevent fraudulent activity. Moreover, unsecured Internet connections, most notably many Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) hotspots and negligent home Wi-Fi networks, provide hackers with easy access to this data directly from the device in question, or during transmission of the proprietary data (e.g., during an e-commerce transaction). The portability of these devices only further increases the likelihood of the device and thus the proprietary data being lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised and potentially used for fraudulent purposes.
Businesses are also susceptible to the abovementioned threats, perhaps on a much larger scale. Businesses are also more inclined to adopt technologies such as hardware and/or software to prevent or aid in preventing their data from becoming comprised. That is, though, often not the case with many employees, unknowingly or otherwise, aiding to proprietary data being compromised.
Thus, what are needed in the art are devices, systems, and methods for the secure deletion of proprietary data in the event the data is compromised.